Aspect
by I am the antihero Calmasis
Summary: A collection of short stories revolving around the Twelve Aspects of Homestuck. Each focusing on a different character, all as close to the updates as possible. Time, Breath, Doom, Blood, Heart, Space, Mind, Light, Void, Rage, Hope, and Life. Twelve aspects, twelve trolls. Enjoy.
1. Time

"I still don't get it."

Sollux looked over at Aradia, raising an eyebrow. "Get what?" he asked.

She waved her hand around - though she knew he couldn't see it. "People who like to waste their lives...doing nothing. Just sitting around when they could be doing something great with their lives!"

"And how did thith come up?"

She shrugged, twisting her hand in her black hair. "I don't know. I've just been asking questions to really no one since I came back to life. Like...if we're going to win or not! If the others are going to come back or not; if we really _are_ the last trolls alive; if they remember us; and why people just waste the little time they have."

"What doeth wassting time have to do with anything like that, AA?" he asked.

Aradia giggled; his lisp was funny. It wasn't just the _th_ sound, but he sometimes elongated his _s_'s without realizing it, or even partially whistling on _s_'s!

"Well, I _am_ a Hero of Time!" she giggled. "Don't you always have _doom_ on your mind?"

"No."

Aradia frowned. She could tell Sollux was lying.

"But you get my point!" she continued, looking away for a second. "I mean, people are so careless! They just spend so much time wasting what precious time they have left. Just...sitting around doing nothing..."

"Aren't we doing that?"

"We can't do anything else!" She sighed and sat down on midair, resting her arms on her legs as her wings kept her afloat. "People just can't see time the way I do. It's something to be treasured and used wisely. Not spent aimlessly on absolutely nothing...I mean I've seen trolls that just like to lie around and do nothing but stare at the walls!" She huffed and rested her head in the palm of her hand.

"Maybe they aren't wathting time," Sollux suggested, talking to...thin air.

"Sollux, I'm behind you."

Sollux stiffened slightly, then turned around - smiling wryly. "Thorry."

"It's fine." Aradia twisted her gray fingers through her hair. "Life and time work hand in hand, don't they?" she finally said, though really to no one.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, cocking his head to one side.

"I mean, everyone's life takes up a certain amount of time," she explained. "When that time is up, their life ends. They can't ask for more time, nor can they cut it short. It's always predetermined how long someone will live."

"I think I've broken that a few times already," Sollux mused.

"No, not really. I mean, you're still alive. I think you clock still has some life in it, if you know what I mean."

"AA, I'm half dead. I'm a ghost. I'm sure that 'clock' has expired by now."

"I doubt it has. I bet it's still ticking healthily even though you don't have a body anymore."

"That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard you thay, AA."

Aradia just rolled her eyes, giggling slightly. "I'll take that as a compliment." But then she paused. "I still don't get it, though!"

"This again? This ith going to go in a full circle, ithn't it? You wonder about time and why people wathte it, I answer, then you ramble, and then ask the question again?"

Aradia giggled. She didn't think of herself as rambling. "I guess! But it's just what's going through my mind!"

"Your mind is a scary place. No offense."

"None taken."

* * *

**First one! XD Time! Yes, I am going to follow the trolls from lowest to highest - in order of the Zodiac. So Tavros is next. **

**I decided to explain time itself. A wander into one's mind. It's what I like; to explore what thoughts cross others' minds. I've always loved the waking dreams.  
**

**This is for...a writing prompt in the forums here - R41NBOW RUMPUS P4RTY TOWN. I've got to say, it was interesting. We had to write about one of the twelve aspects - so I'm writing all twelve, but submitting the first three...since those are the ones that are done...  
**

**I don't own Homestuck, Aradia Megido, or Sollux Captor (though I dearly wish I did). They belong to Andrew Hussie.  
**


	2. Breath

Even though this was his memory, Tavros couldn't help but feel trapped. How long - he wondered - had he been wandering through these Dream Bubbles - meeting those who dreamed, and his dead comrades? How many of his memories had he explored, time after time? How many memories of others?

Despite this seemingly endless expanse for him to explore, he felt trapped. Different things told him it wasn't the world of the living. How the ground felt, how fake the grass seemed (was grass really that green? Maybe it was a human's memory), and how lifeless the wind seemed.

The wind didn't seem free, it seemed to blow in one direction, then hit an invisible boundary and loop back almost halfheartedly. It blew by lifelessly, weakly, and almost pitifully. As if it was a shell of its great, former self. Like it itself was just a spirit of the afterlife, reliving its memories. Or was it just a figure of Tavros' imagination? Had it really been that long since he had felt a real breeze fly by him? Just how long had he been dead?

How he longed to be alive again. Part of him was saying, "No, it's nice being dead. No more fighting, no more having to watch your friends die. It's nice," but another - more rebellious side of him - yearned to be free, to go back to Alternia - his home - or even explore Earth. A human he remembered speaking with - Jade (he wouldn't say it, but he did have slight red feelings for her) - mentioned how nice Earth was. Especially since she lived by the ocean, on a tropical island.

_It must be really nice there,_ he'd always think to himself. _Not nearly as much fighting or death as Alternia, I bet._

The Dream Bubble he was in now seemed like a mimic of what he saw of Earth through the Viewport of Trollian. Green and blue, with a warm, nurturing sun shining down; the complete opposite of the sun on his home world. But the light felt cold and hollow, the wind just a weak whisper, instead of a proud howl.

Tavros sat down in the grass, pulling his legs up to his chest and resting his arms on his knees. This Dream Bubble was a nice change from the ones he usually ran into, that usually involved Vriska in someway...or stairs. Oh, how he hated stairs when he was alive...well, after he had been crippled, of course. It seemed like another way to trap him. Like the wind trapped in the bubbles.

As he reflected on this, it dawned upon him that - throughout his whole life - there had been two voices urging him on; the clearer one that made him the passive troll everyone knew him as, and a muffled voice that told him to try and break free, to spread his wings and take his life and destiny in his own hands. It wasn't until moments before his own death - and in death - that he had begun to hear this second voice. Before he had always thought it was his friend, Rufio, but that was stupid; fairies weren't real. Everyone knew that. But now he realized it was a part of him he was probably afraid to show; afraid to explore.

He took a deep breath as the scenery disintegrated before his blank eyes, blackness swallowing the fields and blue sky. _Where now?_ he thought as the wind began to die, before roaring with increased velocity...but the same hollow voice that the wind of the bubbles seemed to have.

He stood up, the ground beneath him becoming orange sand, and the sky was dyed an even more vibrant orange. The sun seemed larger and more intense here, but he couldn't really feel a thing; it was as empty as everything else in these dreams.

_I would give anything to let these winds be free again,_ he thought, walking off in no particular direction at all. _I wouldn't mind if I stayed here - though it'd be nice to be alive...but maybe as someone else. Can trolls be reborn as a different race? I don't want to fight anymore. If I were to have to continue fighting if I came back to life, then I want to stay dead._

Tavros looked ahead of him, and tried to suppress a moan of almost annoyance and disappointment. He could see a girl ahead of him. And it was Vriska.

_If I were the wind, she'd be the walls that trap me,_ he thought almost bitterly, turning away as he heard loud footsteps approaching him as Vriska tried to catch up with him.

_Whatever she wants, I will not let her boss me around anymore!_

* * *

__**ROUND TWO! AWAY! *shot*  
**

**Ergh =w= Sorry. Tired. This one...I don't know. I just wrote. And wrote...and this came. Bluh, I don't know.  
**


	3. Doom

Black. That was all Sollux could see now. Just, black. It was both welcoming, and disconcerting at the same time. Welcoming, as he didn't have to watch the destruction of two realms at once, and the voices had finally disappeared once he lost his sight. But, disconcerting...by the fact that he couldn't see the world anymore. He didn't know what was going on, what had changed, what had stayed the same, and if he was alive or not. He always associated life with sight, but now he couldn't see, he was having a hard time telling if he was still alive (even just a bit) or dead. He didn't know what death held for him, but he didn't like it – whatever it was.

Death.

That one thought kept going through his head. Was it because he was partially dead? Because he was a ghost? Or was it because he had led everyone to their deaths? Aradia...Feferi...and countless others in doomed timelines. Doom. It kept showing it's ugly face! Doom, along with its brother, Death… The two always seemed to travel together, enacting the demise of those whose time in this realm was up. This, or any other realm. Two accursed forces that never faltered once in their job. It felt as if they were just a step behind Sollux, waiting to claim his life (if he was truly still alive).

He continued to pace (well, float) around the Green Sun - a habit he had taken up. It took him a while to go around it once, so it gave him time to think. He knew it was there by the warmth that was always present to his right; the ever-constant warmth, but never harmful despite how close he was to it. He could have stood right in front of it - maybe only a foot away - and only have been harmed if he had actually touched it. Was it because he was dead - or was it this sun's nature to be this strangely safe?

Safer than he was, really. He lead all of his friends to their deaths in someway or another - be it the Alpha timeline, or a doomed one. His decisions always seemed to lead someone to their inevitable death. It was his fault that Aradia had died, and it was also his that Feferi died the way she did. Okay, it was Eridan's for being such a prick, but still - Sollux had accepted his challenge. If he had been more careful, maybe Feferi wouldn't have died. And Vriska _had_ controlled him; but if he had fought back, he wouldn't have killed Aradia. She didn't blame him, though; Aradia forgave Sollux for what happened, saying it wasn't his fault.

But he felt that it was.

He sometimes wished he had never learned what his title was - the Mage of Doom. A Mage was a manipulator - so he manipulated Doom. It was him, he felt. It was his fault. He felt it was all his fault; he had lead everyone to their dooms - he was even convinced this was a doomed timeline. He had failed again. _Funny. I'm always harassing KK that he's failed again. But look at me...I think I lead everyone to their deaths._

He clenched his fist and shoved it in his pocket. Death, doom, and failure. That was all he was, wasn't it? He should have been the Mage of Failures. He wasn't good at anything. Okay, he was better at hacking than Karkat was, but he still didn't really consider himself _that_ good - Karkat just sucked. And his psychic powers were okay - but definitely not as good as his Ancestor's. He died just trying to power a tiny meteor!

"But you were already dying, Sollux," Aradia had told him, trying to cheer him up. "I bet you would have lived if you hadn't already been dying." _Yeah, a great way to cheer someone up._

One of his conversations with Aradia came to Sollux's mind. It was a point she always seemed to bring up - about how time wasn't to be wasted, and should be cherished. He always thought it was weird how she did things like that, but he never said anything about it to her.

She always asked him if he had doom on his mind, but he'd always respond with a "No" - and she'd accuse him of lying. But it was true; he didn't have doom on his mind.

It was death.

Death seemed to occupy his head, always tormenting him. He led his friends to their deaths, his lusus, and his entire race. Even he had died several times! So much, so many he had lead to the Veil.

Sollux stopped, furrowing his brow. Why _was_ death on his mind? And why not doom? Why did it seem that one of his closest friends was obsessed with death, he himself was partially dead, and the two could effortlessly travel through the afterlife - the realm of the dead? Why was that?

What Aradia once said surfaced again, confusing him further: "Time isn't a straightforward aspect, you know. It's _timelines_, not time itself! I see every timeline in existence; from this one, and the many doomed ones."

Did that mean that Doom wasn't straightforward, either? Then what was it? He wracked his brain. Why couldn't he figure it out? He was pretty good at analyzing things already, but why not this?

_Or maybe because you already know,_ he thought. What did he do? Lead everyone to their...

_Deaths._ _Death. That's it. That's got to be it._

It was the only explanation. He led everyone to their dooms - their deaths. He could almost predict their deaths. Was that...was that what his aspect actually was? Was the Mage of Doom, really the Manipulator of Death? Was he supposed...was he supposed to change fate so that they would succeed? So that everyone would live?

_If I had realized this earlier, than maybe they would have lived,_ he thought bitterly. But for some reason that explanation just didn't seem right. It just didn't click. Did he really manipulate death? It surely didn't seem it. Did he predict it? Did he predict death? He had seen the destruction of two worlds for sweeps before the game. Did that mean that a Mage was similar to a Seer? He always thought that a Mage was the active class for the passive Witch or Wizard...

_So I predict death. I'm...supposed to stop it? Warn people of it? _Sollux thought, confused. _Is that it?_

He closed his eyes - though it changed nothing to him. It was still black as always. _So then I failed my aspect. I neglected it._ He clenched his fist. _Then no more. I'll follow it. I...I'll predict deaths, then. Not that I really want to have to see anymore people die. Or that I can see..._

He felt something brush against his arm - no wait, both of his arms...

"AA?" Sollux said aloud, but no response was given. God, sometimes he really hated being blind.

It was then he realized something was up when he felt _something_ lying on his head.

Sollux subconsciously opened his eyes, and almost closed them back from shock. Those were his hands. Why...He could see! What-

There were green sleeves encasing his arms. And a hood partially obscured his vision. He tugged at his shirt that no longer bared his sign - the sign of the eternal twins, Gemini. No, it was a skull. The sign of Doom.

"Oh my god," he muttered. "I have got to tell AA."

* * *

**Why did I like writing this? It sounds so emo as I read over it...but...I...I DON'T KNOW. **

**I'm really going for the true meaning of the aspects. Breath...well, wind. Time, timelines. Doom? Death. What's blood, than? That's confusing.  
**

**And the whole God Tier thing? I don't think it's just dying on your quest bed. Actually, I think one way to ascend is to realize your aspect, to fulfill it. To overcome any obstacles that are in your way, and finally reach the highest level to finally ascend. So you may have to do a great favor, just realize your aspect...countless things, really. All that will lead to the ascension into godhood.  
**

**Homestuck belongs to Andrew Hussie - and I dearly wish it was mine...  
**

**Next up? Bloooooooooooooooooddddd.  
**


End file.
